


From The Dining Table

by therosewoods



Series: Truly, Madly, Deeply [1]
Category: Charlie Puth (Musician), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Dinner, Dinner Party, Family Dinners, Fluff, Friendship, Implied Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 20:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14818052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therosewoods/pseuds/therosewoods
Summary: Based on this text-post:http://wellingtontat.tumblr.com/post/167687903208/just-imagine-louis-trying-to-assist-a-franticHarry and Louis prepare a fancy dinner party for their Couple™ friends, Niall and Shawn, and Liam and Charlie.- Harry makes Louis taste his cooking while Louis sets the table.- Shawn makes Niall fix his hair for him while Niall gets dressed- Liam makes Charlie pick out bottles of wine to bring over while Charlie watches Liam search for their keys.





	From The Dining Table

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya!
> 
> \- SO, first of all, I'm sure there are already fics based on this post, but I haven't found them yet, so here's another one.  
> \- I wrote it all in a day and I'm finishing it here at 1 am, so bear with me if it's not an amazingly written fic.  
> \- The original text post has Liam and Zedd as a pairing, but I really don't know anything about Zedd or his relationship with Liam, so I decided to do Liam/Charlie Puth as a pairing at the suggestion of a friend. Thanks, Hope!  
> \- Also I know the title is super lame and unoriginal but like I said it's 1 am and I have no energy to come up with something better so this is what it's gonna be. 
> 
> \- ALSO! Happy Pride Month everyone!

“Louis! Can you come here, please?” Harry calls.

Louis sighs in frustration. He shoves the cufflinks he was struggling to attach to his sleeves into his back pocket. He steps away from the mirror and out of their bedroom, down the hall and into the kitchen where Harry is.

“Yes, Haz?” Louis asks, trying (and failing) to keep his impatience out of his tone.

“Woah, what’s with the mood?” Harry asks from the stove, his back turned to him. Even though he can't see his face, Louis can _hear_ the stupid grin plastered across it.

Louis sighs. “Sorry, love. I just can’t get my cufflinks the right way through my sleeves. Don’t know which way the letters are meant to go,” he admits.

Harry laughs, wiping his wooden spoon on the apron Louis got him for his birthday and sets it down. He turns, looking amusedly at Louis.

“You mean the ones I got you? With our initials engraved on them?” Harry asks.

Louis glares at him, but nods anyway.

“Stop laughing at me,” Louis says, trying his best to seem mad.

This just makes Harry laugh even harder.

“I’ll help you out in a second. Now come over here and try this pasta primavera sauce. It’s your mum’s recipe. I think it needs more garlic, but let me know what you think,” Harry says. He pulls Louis closer and dips his spoon back into the sauce, filling it up and lifting it to Louis’ mouth.

Louis slurps the sauce into his mouth, obnoxiously, causing Harry to roll his eyes a little as he pulls the spoon out of Louis’ mouth. Louis licks his lips and smacks his mouth loudly.

Harry playfully smacks him on the arm. “Oh, come on. Just give me your review,” he laughs.

Louis smiles. “Baby, you know I love anything you make,” he says, sweetly batting his eyelashes. “But it could use some more basil, actually.”

“Basil? Really?” Harry asks.

Louis nods. “Oh, yeah. Trust me. I know exactly how mum used to make it,” he says.

“You can’t even cook,” Harry says, bringing Louis in again by the waist. He leans in to a kiss to Louis’ cheek, to which Louis responds by gently shoving Harry’s face away.

“Ugh. Whatever. Now will you please help me with these?” Louis asks, digging his cufflinks out of his pockets and presenting them to Harry in the palm of his hand.

Harry sets his spoon down again and wipes his hands, then folds over Louis’ cuffs. He takes the links from Louis’ hand and puts them through his sleeves with ease.

“There you go,” Harry grins.

Louis looks down at his sleeves to see his cufflinks positioned perfectly, the letters of their initials facing right side up.

“It’s just that easy,” Harry teases.

Louis rolls his eyes.

“Oh, _please_. I bet I _had it_ that way. I just can’t see and do it one-handed,” he protests.

“Sure, baby,” Harry says.

“Whatever,” Louis says again. “I’m gonna go set the table. How many people are coming? Just us, Niall and Shawn, and Liam and Charlie, right?”

Harry nods. “Yeah. That is, if Niall and Shawn even show up. They’re all over each other these days, they’re probably _too busy,”_ he laughs.

Louis scrunches his nose. “Ugh, don’t even start,” he says in disgust.

Harry laughs.

 Louis grabs a stack of plates from a cupboard and some cutlery from a drawer and carefully carries them into the dining room. He starts setting the table, putting the plates and silverware placemats and taking care in making their table look as nice as possible. He had even gone to the florist earlier in the day to get fresh centerpieces of forget-me-nots and baby’s breath flowers.

Once he’s happy with the way the place settings look, he goes out into their foyer and opens a drawer in the bureau they have resting by the front door. He grabs a few of the various-sized candles and the book of matches they keep there and brings them back into the dining room.  He sets them up around the room and on the table, deciding to keep them unlit until their guests arrived.

He knows that their friends really don’t care what their place looks like; the same way they are not fussy about their friends’ places themselves. When they decided to host a fancy dinner party, it was more to see if they really could. They weren’t trying to impress anyone else, just trying to see if they could pull the whole thing off. If not, they knew they could just say _fuck it_ and order takeout from somewhere nearby, but they figured it was worth a shot. It could even be fun, to see all of the people they love dressed up around their table.

Harry walks in, apron still on. “Dinner’s almost ready. How’s it looking in here?” He asks.

Louis looks over to him and smiles fondly. “I think it looks pretty good. But what do you think of the candles? Does it look too much like a seance, or just seance-y enough?”

“Just seance-y enough,” Harry says.

“Perfect”

“Come help me finish up in here. I need you to put tinfoil over the bread to keep it warm and the mix the veggies in the pasta while I pour the sauce over,” Harry instructs.

“WAIT. Fuck, I forgot the wine glasses _and_ the napkins,” Louis pauses. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

 _“Louis!_ I need you!” Harry whines.

“I know, I know, hold on,” Louis replies.

“Wait, do we need wine?” Harry asks.

“No, Liam and Charlie are bringing the wine,” Louis says.

“Okay, okay. This will be good,” Harry says, more to himself than to Louis.

Louis pauses what he’s doing and walks over to Harry. He leans his head against Harry’s arm and rubs his chest soothingly.

“It’s gonna be _great_. They’ll love it,” he says.

—————————————————————————————————

“Baby, can you help me real quick?” Shawn asks, running his fingers through his hair as he leans toward the mirror. He waited until the shower stopped running to ask.

Niall dries himself off with a towel.

“Sure, babe, what d’ya need?” He asks. He wraps the towel around his waist and walks up behind Shawn, wrapping his arms around him. He presses a kiss to the taller man’s shoulder and grins.

“You smell so good, babe. That cologne I got you was a good idea,” he mumbles into the fabric of Shawn’s dress shirt.

Shawn laughs, gently pushing Niall off of him.

“Stop it! You’re gonna get me all wet,” he whines.

Niall grins and turns his head, meeting Shawn’s eyes in the mirror.

“Is that a challenge?” He asks suggestively.

Shawn rolls his eyes. “Come on, Ni, I need your help. And you need to get dressed before you make us late.”

Niall sighs. “ _Fine,”_ he says in mock-defeat. “But when we get home later, you’re gonna regret making me wait. Better make sure the makeup artist is good at covering up hickies.”

“Speak for yourself, little man,” Shawn replies, standing on his toes to make himself appear even taller.

Niall smacks his chest. “Shut up! Just tell me what you need.”

Shawn laughs and leans down to press a kiss on Niall’s stubbled jaw. He pulls away and hands Niall his hair gel.

“I need to you to help me fix my hair,” he says. “I can’t get the texture right.”

“First of all, don’t kiss my jaw again unless you want me to rip that shirt off you,” Niall says, “Second of all, what look are you doing for specifically?”

“Noted,” Shawn replies. “And I want it kind of wavy? But with a strand out on one side.”

“My favorite,” Niall hums. “Now, turn to me.”

Shawn turns around and hops up onto the countertop. He opens his legs and pulls Niall into him.

Niall chuckles and dips his fingers into the pot of gel. He reaches up and runs his fingers through his boy’s hair, putting in the effort to actually style his hair, but also gently tugging at it in the way he knows he likes.

Shawn smiles. “Actually, we _could_ stay in, if that’s really what you wanted,” he teases.

Niall raises his eyebrow but ignores him and continues to fix his hair.

“Niall?” Shawn says.

“Yes, lover?” Niall replies.

“You wanna call them and tell them to save our plates for later?” Shawn asks.

Niall looks up at him then, a glimmer in his eyes.

“Hmm. I don’t know, baby, they’re expecting us,” he says simply.

 _“Niall…”_ Shawn whispers.

“Shawn,” Niall mirrors. “We have commitments tonight. We’ll have our fun as soon as we get home. I promise.”

He steps back from Shawn and looks up at him to examine his work. He moves in again to fix a few final strands of hair, then puts the lid on the pot and sets it down.

“Okay, look,” he says.

Shawn hops down from the counter and turns to the mirror. He squints up at his hair, then turns back to Niall with a grin.

“It’s looks great, Ni. Thank you,” he says.

“Anything for you, sunshine,” Niall says.

Shawn steps forward and takes Niall into him again. He leans in as Niall pushes up on his toes to meet his lips in a sweet kiss.

When they pull away, Shawn rests a hand on Niall’s hip. “I love you,” he says innocently. Then, he slaps Niall’s ass. “Now go get dressed!”

 _“Fine!”_ Niall huffs playfully, turning to go into their closet.

“Uh, aren’t you forgetting something?” Shawn calls after him.

“No! Don’t think so!” Niall replies with a laugh.

Shawn follows him into their closet and watches as he pulls his trousers on.

“Enjoying the show?” Niall asks.

“No, just waiting for you to say it back,” Shawn replies.

“Say what back?” Niall says, pretending to be oblivious to what Shawn is asking. He throws on a white vest and takes one of his shirts down from its hanger. He pulls it on, but as he goes to button it Shawn steps forward and pushes his hand away.

He buttons the shirt from the bottom up, pausing only when he is finished. When he is, he presses a kiss to the corner of Niall’s mouth. “Say it,” he says in a sing-song voice.

Niall grabs his hands, looking up at him with an intent gaze.

“Shawn,” he says, voice serious. “I love you. And I’m never gonna stop.”

Shawn blushes, his heart thumping fast in his chest.

“Come on, Ni,” he says, rubbing his thumb across Niall’s knuckles. “Let’s go to dinner.”

“The faster we go to dinner, the faster we can get home,” Niall grins.

“Shut up,” Shawn says.

—————————————————————————————————

“Charlie, can you grab the wine?” Liam asks as he searches the living room for his keys.

“Red wine or white wine?” Charlie asks as he straightens his tie in the mirror. He turns to see Liam digging through the cushions on their couch, too preoccupied to answer.

“Liam?” Charlie says after a few moments of Liam ignoring him.

Liam looks up at him. “Yeah, babe?” He asks.

“Red or white wine?” Charlie asks again.

“Uh, both?” He says like a question.

“Okay…” Charlie says. “Do you need help looking for the keys?” He asks.

Liam huffs. “No, I’ve got this,” he says, pridefully.

Charlie throws his hands up. “Woah,” he says, an amused smile crossing his face. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, baby.”

Liam rolls his eyes, smiling. “Hush. Just go grab us some wine.”

“Okay…” Charlie repeats, turning on his heel. He hears a laugh behind him as walks over to the wine rack and looks for the best bottle of wine he can find. Neither of them is wine experts, so they tend to buy whichever one tastes the least disgusting.

He eventually settles on one bottle of red and one bottle of white wine, choosing them primarily because they were the only ones that haven’t been opened yet.

He carries them back over to where Liam is still searching for the keys. He stands there watching him with a raised eyebrow, waiting for Liam to look up and notice him.

When Liam finally turns to him, they both burst out laughing.

“Need help?” Charlie asks again through his laughs.

Liam straightens up and walks over to him. He wraps his arms around Charlie’s waist, body still shaking from laughter. “Shut up and help me,” he giggles.

Charlie kisses Liam’s forehead. He pulls away and hands the wine bottles out to Liam. “Make this look pretty. I’ll look for the keys,” he says. 

“I love you,” Liam says happily. He takes the wine bottles from Charlie and leans up, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

Charlie smiles into the kiss. “Love you too,” he mumbles against Liam’s lips.

They pull away, and Liam turns to go into their kitchen while Charlie looks for the car keys.

In the other room, Liam opens a drawer and digs out two stick-on gift bows leftover from when he was wrapping Charlie’s birthday gifts months earlier and sticks them on the wine bottles.

After a few minutes, Charlie comes in behind him. He places a hand on Liam’s hips, massaging his sides. “Baby, guess what,” he says.

Liam turns his head, meeting Charlie’s eyes. As he does, Charlie brings his hand around and dangles the car keys in front of his face. He draws back and looks up at him in surprise.

“Where did you _find_ those?” He asks, taking them from his hand.

Charlie grins. “Baby. They were on the end table. Next to your candle,” he says. He reaches into his back pocket and puts another item into Liam’s hand. “And your _cell phone.”_

Liam gives him a confused look. He searches for words for a few moments, eventually giving up and letting out a sigh. “Let’s go,” he says, clearly annoyed.

Charlie looks at him affectionately. “Want me to drive?” He asks.

Liam nods. “Yes, please. If I do it I’ll probably wind up driving us to Georgia or something,” he says dramatically.

“That would be something, considering we’re in London at the moment,” Charlie laughs.

“Whatever, we’re gonna be late,” Liam replies, grabbing the wine bottles from the counter.

Charlie wraps and arm around him as they walk towards the door.

“Wow, can’t believe you remembered the wine,” he teases as they walk out onto their front porch.

“Oh, _whatever,”_ Liam says.

Charlie laughs, locking the door behind them.

—————————————————————————————————

When everyone arrives, it’s later than Louis and Harry had written in their group text, but they were expecting this. Harry was keeping the food warm in their oven, and the two have been waiting in their living room, watching reruns of America’s Next Top Model.

When the bell finally rings, they quickly jump up. Louis flicks the television onto a house music channel and runs to the dining room. “I have to light these candles! Answer the door!” He calls behind him.

Harry laughs, and walks over to the foyer. He takes a breath, suppressing any anxiety he’s feeling before opening the door. Before him, Niall and Shawn stand, wrapped around each other.

“Hazza!” Niall says, leaning forward and pulling Harry into a hug.

“Niall!” Harry replies. He pulls away and turns toward Shawn.

“Hi Shawn,” he says happily.

Shawn smiles. “Hi, Harry. Thanks for having us,” he says politely.

Harry smiles back. “You don’t have to thank me,” he says. He leans forward and gives Shawn a warm hug. “If you’re Niall’s family, you’re our family too.”

They pull away, and Harry turns to let them in.

“The dining room is to the left. Louis should be in there finishing setting the table. I’ll be in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on dinner. Call if you need me,” he says. He turns and goes into the other room.

Niall and Shawn go into the dining room where Louis is lighting the candles he placed earlier.

“Hello lads!” Louis greets. “I’d hug you, but I’m working with fire over here, so it might not be the best idea.”

“Hi Louis,” Shawn replies. “Thanks for having us."

“Oh, of course. Anytime,” Louis says. “We’re lucky to have you as a mate. And honestly, you could do way better than Neil over there,” he teases.

“Oh, trust me, he knows,” Niall laughs, wrapping his arm tighter around Shawn’s waist.

Shawn grins and pulls Niall close to his chest. “Well, I think it’s the other way around, but thank you, Louis.”

Harry comes in then, carrying a bowl of salad. “Alright, dinner is officially ready. I’m just leaving the bread and the pasta in the oven to keep them warm until Charlie and Liam get here,” he says.

“Do you need any help?” Shawn asks.

Harry waves him off. “No, I’m fine, thanks,” he replies. “Sit down, get comfortable. I’d offer you wine, but Liam and Charlie are meant to bring it.”

They all take a seat at the table, Louis and Harry sitting across from each other next to Shawn and Niall respectively. They share idle conversation, catching up on their lives since the last time they hung out.

After a while, the bell rings. They all stand up, Louis and Niall going to the front door while Shawn follows Harry into the kitchen to bring the food into the dining room.

Louis and Niall open the door. Outside, Liam and Charlie stand, each holding a bottle of wine in the hands that aren’t holding each other.

“Welcome, boys,” Louis greets with a grin.

“Hey, Lou,” Liam says, stepping in and giving him a hug. “Sorry we’re so late,” he apologizes before pulling away and moving to hug Niall.

“We had a little trouble finding our keys,” Charlie says, looking over at Liam, who rolls his eyes.

“It’s okay, Niall and Shawn just got here too,” Louis says, hugging Charlie.

“Yeah, we were a little… preoccupied,” Niall says.

Louis reaches over and gently smacks the back of his head. “No one wants to hear about that Niall,” he says.

Niall’s hand flies up to the back of his head. “Ouch! What the fuck?”

Before Louis can explain himself, Harry pokes his head into the foyer.

“Hey guys! You look nice,” Harry compliments.” Dinner is served,” he announces

“Hey, Harry!” Liam replies. He takes Charlie’s hand again and follows Harry into the dining room along with the rest of the group.

When they’re all in there, they all exchange hugs before sitting down again.

“Alright, everyone, serve yourselves,” Harry says. “Liam, pass the wine around.”

“Right. Do you have a wine opener?” Liam replies.

Louis reaches into his pocket, pulling out a corkscrew and handing it to Liam. “Here you go,” he says.

“Why did you have that in your pocket?” Liam questions.

“Because I knew you’d forget one,” Louis replies.

Liam sighs. “I swear, if anyone else comes at me for being a _tad_ forgetful, I am going to drink myself to death and you’ll only have yourselves to blame,” He declares, earning laughs all around the table.

For the rest of the night, they all gorge themselves on pasta, bread, and wine, save for Charlie and Niall who remain sober enough to drive home afterwards. They laugh when Shawn dribbles red wine on his white dress shirt, and when Harry tells his horrible jokes and Louis bluntly (but lovingly) tells him to _just shut up already._

They stay until it’s late, helping Harry and Louis clean up and wrapping up leftovers to take home. They spend too long standing at the door saying goodbye and sharing drunken hugs.

When they finally leave, Harry and Louis look at each other. They’re exhausted, but fully content with the way the evening has gone. Louis takes Harry in his arms, and together, they turn out all the lights and candles and walk upstairs to their bedroom.

Harry strips down to his boxers, while Louis opts to also leave his undershirt on.

“You wanna have some grown-up fun?” Harry attempts to flirt in his dorky, adorable way. “I mean, _real_ grown-up fun, not just dinner-party-grown-up fun.”

Louis laughs, rolling his eyes. “First of all, I’m not sleeping with someone who refers to sex as _grown-up fun._ Second of all, I’m _knackered,”_ he says. “But don’t worry, love. We’ll definitely have some grown-up fun in the morning.”

Harry grins. “I’ll be counting on it,” he says.

“I know you will,” Louis replies.

—————————————————————————————————

Back at their house, Niall and Shawn are unable to take their hands away from each other. They barely make it to the bedroom before they begin to grab at each other like it was the first and last time they’d ever get to feel each other like this.

Shawn falls back onto their mattress as Niall straddles his hips, looking down at him.

“You’re so fucking hot,” Shawn breaths as Niall busies himself by unbuttoning his shirt. He grips Niall’s hands and brings them up to his face, taking some of his fingers into his mouth. He bites down gently.

Niall chuckles. “Get ready babe,” he mutters, a new, dark roughness taking over his voice He pulls his hands away from Shawn's face and trails them up and down his body, gently stroking his sides before moving down his abs. He stops once he reaches the top of Shawn's belt and he begins playing with it.

“I’ve been ready,” Shawn admits. “Ready since you did my hair.”

Niall grins. “Perfect.”

—————————————————————————————————

Liam and Charlie enter their house, kicking off their shoes and helping each other out of their blazers.

They go into their living room and strip down to their boxers, placing their dress clothes on the coffee table to worry about in the morning. They then lay back on their couch, Liam propped up against one of the armrests as Charlie rests against his chest.

“I think that went well,” Liam says, rubbing Charlie’s back.

Charlie hums, too tired to respond.

“You wanna go to bed?” Liam asks, sensing his boyfriend’s fatigue.

Charlie shakes his head. “No. Just wanna lay here with you,” he mumbles.

Liam smiles, still warm from the wine he had earlier. “Alright. I love you,” he says.

“Love you more,” Charlie responds.

Liam shifts, his back beginning to ache from the position he’s in. He knows he’ll be sore in the morning, but he doesn’t have the heart to move Charlie when he’s this comfortable against him.

He feels his heart fill with endearment as Charlie’s breathing shifts in the way that lets Liam knows he’s asleep, and he relaxes. Together, they stay like that; tangled together by their limbs as the rest of the cities falls asleep with them.

 


End file.
